Photo via Jim Jordan - jordan.house.gov
Jim Jordan
Jim Jordan
No one knows yet who will emerge from the dysfunctional Republican House to become the next speaker, but one thing is certain. If it’s Ohio congressman Jim Jordan, Donald Trump’s handpicked candidate, the crisis for democracy is just beginning.
Like Trump, Jordan thrives on creating chaos, not reducing it. That’s why Jordan and Trump were in close contact throughout the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol. He’s defended Trump ever since saying the former president did nothing wrong.
“Jim Jordan knew more about what Donald Trump had planned for Jan. 6 than any other member of the House of Representatives,” former Wyoming Rep. Liz Cheney said last week in a speech at the University of Minnesota. “Jim Jordan was involved, was part of the conspiracy in which Donald Trump was engaged as he attempted to overturn the election.”
Here's a disturbing fact. Five days after Jan. 6, Trump awarded Jordan the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian honor and one usually reserved for Americans who have made historically significant social or cultural contributions. Does supporting a violent insurrection really qualify?
President Jordan?
Here’s another disturbing fact. If Jordan wins the speaker’s job, he will be third in line to immediately become president of the United States if anything were to suddenly happen to Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, whose lives are constantly being openly threatened at a time when violent political rhetoric is commonplace.
Jordan has never discussed his own role on January 6 even though he was part of Trump’s House defense team during the impeachment trial in which Senate Republicans acquitted Trump. Republican leader Mitch McConnell said Trump should be prosecuted in the courts instead.
Jordan refused to comply with a congressional subpoena to testify about his 10-minute phone call with the president before the January 6 attack on the Capitol began and or other conversations when he said they talked “a number of times” during the day.
|
|
The subpoena Jordan defied was issued by the House committee investigating January 6 co-chaired by Cheney. She was removed from Republican House leadership by Kevin McCarthy for opposing Trump’s violent attempt to remain in the presidency after his defeat.
Conspiring Against the Constitution
Jordan also sent a text to Trump’s Chief of Staff Mark Meadows on Jan. 5 outlining ways Vice President Mike Pence could throw out President Biden’s electoral votes to elect Trump. He followed up Pence’s refusal with a call to Meadows during the attack.
Cassidy Hutchinson, Meadows’s chief of staff, overheard part of that conversation. “In crossfire, I heard briefly what they were talking about,” Hutchinson testified. “I heard conversations in the Oval dining room at that point talking about the ‘Hang Mike Pence’ chants.”
Jordan refused rightwing efforts to draft him for the speaker job during the 15 ballots it took to elect McCarthy as the most powerless speaker in history. Without all the bother of passing legislation, Jordan thought he could become a much bigger hero to MAGA Republicans as chair of the House Judiciary Committee.
Jordan saw it as the perfect position to launch attacks on Biden and Atty. Gen. Merrick Garland to try shut down the Justice Department’s prosecution of Trump for his presidential crimes to overthrow democracy on January 6 and his theft of top-secret government documents the FBI recovered from Mar-a-Lago after Trump tried to claim they were his.
Jordan’s continuing attacks on the four evidence-filled criminal indictments of Trump for multiple presidential crimes including the violent attempt to overthrow President Biden’s election once again echo Trump’s own rhetoric.
So far, Trump’s lawyers have raised very few legal arguments in his defense. Their legal filings are filled with political arguments designed to appeal to hard-core, rightwing voters. Trump’s long-shot strategy to stay out of prison for his crimes is simply to win the presidency and hire a new attorney general—Jordan would be a great choice—to shut down Trump’s prosecution.
The irony is Jordan is the one who invented a phrase to attack Biden—the weaponization of government—that perfectly describes the politically corrupt Justice Department Trump has promised to institute with a vengeance if he’s elected president again. Trump vows to fire all the prosecutors who prosecute crimes supported by evidence to shut down his own indictments. Then he’ll start locking up Biden and his entire family and anyone else he wants.
If that sounds nuts, it’s because it is. Republicans have been telling their own voters for decades to get tough on criminals and support police and prosecutors. They forgot to tell Americans not to believe a Republican president should be indicted just because they watched his crime on television.
Most Americans really do support democracy. They’re also appalled House Republicans are out of control at a time when the nation is now involved in two deadly wars. Jim Jordan as House speaker would only multiply the chaos.
